Work-life balance most valued factor for workers across age groups: Survey

It is emerging as a crucial differentiator for attracting and keeping talent in Singapore

- Sharon Salim

Getting their work-life balance right is the most highly valued employment factor for workers in Singapore, no matter what the age, noted a new survey.

It even surpasses other value propositions such as attractive salary and benefits, with job security, career progression and equity also trailing behind.

The annual survey conducted by recruitment agency Randstad polled around 170,000 people in places like Japan, Belgium, India and Greece, including 2,522 in Singapore.

It found that just over 50 per cent of employees here rated "work-life balance" and "salary and benefits" positively when evaluating their current employers.

This indicates clearly that there is room for improvement in these two factors: While both are top priorities for employees, they are "rated relatively low" when assessing bosses.

"With salary packages and benefits now highly competitive, work-life balance is emerging as a crucial differentiator for both attracting and keeping top talent," said Randstad Singapore country director David Blasco.

Respondents across generations have differing motivators at work. While work-life balance and attractive salary and benefits remain the top two priorities for Gen Z (aged 13 to 28) and millennials (29 to 44), Gen X (45 to 60) place slightly more emphasis on compensation.